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Time for Rand Paul to Go for Broke?

Is it time for Rand Paul to “go for broke”? I’ve been urging caution. I know the GOP base, they’re a bunch of apes, and Paul has to appeal to them. The apes are well trained by a GOP establishment to react positively to certain buzz words and catch phrases like “take back America”, and “fight radical Islam”. They also know to fling their feces at anyone who sounds like they “hate uh’mer’ca”. But when you’re surrounded by apes, remember – they’re still apes. They are irrational primates who respect vulgar displays of power.

That’s why they love Trump. At the CNN debate, I saw Trump mostly doing more of the same. He refused to apologize to Jeb Bush’s wife for claiming that she being Mexican had softened Bush on immigration. He hurled insults, completely unprovoked, at Rand Paul. But Trump remained bold. He had the courage to look right at Bush and criticize the mess his brother left this country in, right in front of an audience of Republican basers. Nobody else showed such courage, including Paul. When Paul had an opportunity to criticize Bush for being a rich kid who smoked marijuana, and later become Gov. of Florida, Paul hesitated. Apes don’t respect that.

When Paul did finally show some courage and explain point blank that the policy of removing secular dictators like Saddam Hussein, and possibly Assad, leaves instability and bites us in the back; Paul finally got some of the apes to clap their paws. They’re so like us, aren’t they?

As the actual primary draws near, I’m wondering if Paul should stop worrying so much about not offending the apes, and instead just tell it like it is. Trump had no qualms about calling out Bush, criticizing the 2003 invasion of Iraq, and slapping hands with Ben Carson for doing the same. These normally provoke the Republican basers to hurl feces, yet, they don’t. They respect Trump as the alpha. Paul was right to say what he did about secular dictators, but maybe it’s time to take the next step.

As Lindsey Graham spoke of ISIS, Iran, and Assad, and I struggled to keep my lunch down, I kept thinking, “Will nobody call him out?” Graham keeps talking about the growth of ISIS, and saying how we should have taken out Assad, and be prepared to use force against Iran. NEWS FLASH! Iran is doing more to stop ISIS than we are right now. Assad was too until Obama took Graham’s advice and armed the “rebels”. Yeah, long story short, ISIS has those arms now. If Paul got a gentle but positive response from the apes for criticizing the reckless toppling of secular dictators in the Middle East, how much more of a response will he get for calling out disastrous policies that played into the hands of ISIS? I’m not an anthropologist, but I am an academic, and I’m sure anthropological departments across the country would like to see the results.

On a more serious note, Paul isn’t doing great in the polls. Trump is at the top, Carson is gaining on him, and Fiorina is picking up the pace. All three of them look like leadership material to the GOP base. I’m thinking it’s time for Paul to take some risks like a good leader must, and show the GOP base that he can lead. I know he can lead, a handful of libertarian leaning Republicans know that. Some libertarian leaning liberals also know that. But this is the GOP primary, the planet of the apes. While I respect Paul’s consistent reverence for the 10th amendment, the rule of law means little to primates. They respect strength, and Paul needs to show it now.

PS If I thought any GOP basers actually read my blog, I wouldn’t be calling them “apes”, but I can’t imagine this offending my 50 or so readers who are likely Paul supporters, or people who came due to my social commentary and don’t care much about this subject.

PPS The above is more of a rant. Sometimes it’s healthy to blow off steam. It’s not an issue of being a bad sport. It’s that I’m seriously frustrated that after all the mistakes we’ve made in the last few decades, I fear that some demagogue (Trump) is going to distract the GOP base from our best hope (Paul) of not making those mistakes again. Honestly, if Trump actually does win, he’ll have my support. He’s nuts, but he is a patriot, and I don’t think he’ll hurl us into another pointless war.